Everything I Own, finale


Hanake blinked, and blinked again, the tears fighting furiously to fall from her eyes. *No...I'll never cry again...* She thought harshly. Here he was! Her son! The boy borne of her and her husband, a child prayed for, expected and loved until the end...when she betrayed him. Betrayed him over to the madman known as Dr. J. The boy behind him, she remembered seeing on TV nearer to the end of the battle after they'd caught him and his Gundam then destroyed it. Of course Justin would associate with his comrades...but there was something else between them. A gut feeling told her so.

There was a very quiet moment. Duo stared at them, comparing them mentally. Yup, no doubt about it in his mind. He thought he'd better do something or they'd spend a lot of time just staring at each other. "Anou, ojou-san, how about we go for lunch? I'm starved."

"You're always hungry." Heero mumbled quietly. Hanake managed a smile.

"That's a good idea...Duo, is it? You're the one who called me...right?" Hanake asked softly.

Duo nodded. "That's me. Know any good places 'round here?"

"Hai...let me get my coat..." And she stpped away from the door. Duo pinched Heero's arm.

"You could say something to her, you know." Duo muttered darkly.

"I did. I said hi, didn't I?" Heero retorted coldly. Duo jabbed him once or twice in the ribs. Heero didn't flinch. Hanake came back, a thin coat slung over her arms. She stepped outside and locked the door. The three of them walked silently for about ten minutes before reaching a small restruant(?). They sat outside, Hanake on one side and Duo and Heero on the other.

Duo hummed and looked through the menu. Hanake ordered some tea for herself and that was it. Heero just drank the glass of water served to him. Duo ordered...and ordered...

Hanake took a sip of her tea. She pausesd, then sighed deeply before speaking. "What do you do now? With no more fighting?"

Heero sat up straight and answered, his voice slightly monotonous. "We both work for the Preventers...and a few operatives for prevention of war. Occasionally, we work for Relena Dorlan."

Duo nodded, munching on something he'd ordered.

"That's interesting...I teach a class in the nearby University."

Hm, so she was a teacher.

"What class?" Duo asked, taking a sip of Coke. She didn't answer for a moment. She brought her tea back to her lips but didn't drink. She held it there for a moment and shut her eyes.

"The Debate Of Universal War And Peace."

Silence again reigned supreme. "We discuss the rebuilding after war-- emotional and physical. I've been teaching it for about three years now."

"That's ironic..." Duo mumbled. Heero said nothing. Hanake kept her gaze on him, her expression showing pain beyond words.

Then Heero spoke up. "Why?"

Hanake looked startled. "Why what?"

"Why did you let Dr. J take me? I have to know."

Hanake was ready to cry again, but she persisted not to. "Dr. J told me you might end the war. I convinced myself that maybe it would be like revenge for your father."

"What was his name?" Heero asked softly, now totally focused on getting the answers to questions he'd barely dared to ask of Dr. J.

"Drake Raleigh." Hanake said, her heart aching for the man she'd loved and the boy she'd borne...

"And mine?" Heero continued. Hanake smiled breifly.

"Your name is Justin." She said softly.

Duo blinked.

Heero twitched.

Duo turned to Heero, his lips trying to smile wildly.

"So....your name is Justin...?" Duo asked, blinking. Heero twitched again. "Heero? Oh wait...I mean, Justin?" He smiled.

"Omae...." Heero started, turning to him, but changed his mind.

"And?" Duo prompted.

"Nothing, Duo." Heero sighed. Then quietly added, "Which is what your head is filled with..."

Hanake blinked. Then she took a deep breath. "I've waited such a long time to see you... Do you want me to call you Heero?"

"Yes...for now." Heero said after a pause. "Mrs. Raleigh..."

"Hanake." Hanake cut in. "At least that."

"Of course." Heero nodded. Another pause before anyone spoke. Only the sound of Duo chewing could be heard. "DO you have any idea what they put me through, Hanake?"

"Iie...I don't." Hanake said in a small voice. "Dr. J never told me that much. I hardly saw you in all those years...just twice."

And then he remembered.

"That was you, that day I left for Earth? That was you in the control room waving to me?" He asked. Hanake made a choking sound in the back of her throat.

"Hai...that was me. I wanted to say goodbye to you so badly....but you didn't recognize me."

"I only retained memories of the time after Testing 9. I think I was five. Then again, I hardly remember that age, anyway."

"That was the last time I saw you before Operation Meteor." Hanake nodded. "Dr. J contacted me occasionally, telling me about things you'd done. First time you piloted a mobile suit was when you were eight...."

Heero nodded numbly. "A Leo."

Hanake set her tea down. Her hands were trembling so frightfully at this point she was scared she'd spill it all over herself. "Your father was killed in a Leo." She said, her voice stony. "He never told me that's what you'd piloted."

Heero said nothing. Hanake turned to Duo.

"And you? Did you pilot a Gundam? Did you go through the same training?"

Duo shook his head. "Iie. When I was about thirteen or fourteen I stumbled into the mess. I piloted Deathscythe." He smiled, thinking of Deathscythe, and missing the suit. "Some old guy called G taught me to pilot it, told me to steal it, and told me to become Shinigami rather than a hero of mass murder. I went with that plan." Duo smiled.

Hanake smiled. "The God of Death?" She translated. "Interesting nickname for a fifteen-year-old."

"I always liked it." Duo shrugged. Then he turned solemn. "I've seen a lot of death and destruction, Mrs. Raleigh. It always seemed to fit me."

Hanake stared down at her tea. "You two are roommates?"

Duo was about to hesitantly agree, but Heero cut him off. "Duo, she doesn't have any right to judge you or I." And he locked eyes with Hanake and said firmly, "We're a bit more than roommates, Hanake. Duo and I are in a relationship."

Duo beamed, watching him. If they hadn't been in such an unusual situation, Duo might have started making out with Heero on the spot...but...........(1)

To Heero's surprise, Hanake smiled brightly and sighed. "That's wonderful, Heero. I'm glad to know you're happy...and that you've found someone who loves you." She said softly.

"Tha...thank you..." Heero said quietly. "I'm glad you think so."

Hanake nodded. "I could never judge you, Heero. Not after what I've done..."

Heero finally felt at ease with her. She wouldn't judge him, not ever. All she had for him was feelings of love, concern and a desire to be loved back by her only son. He was finding himself....no longer angry. The anger and the worry was gone, replaced by a feeling of warmth. The unconditional love she had for him as his mother would fill up the space in his heart filled with secret anger at Dr. J, Operation Meteor, and the years he spent lonely and in the darkness of life. Hidden from the world, the world's last hope....Heero Yuy and Justin Raleigh, two different beings entirely, depending on how they were raised and by whom, but both connected by common ground.

Hanake Raleigh.

"I know that I have no right to have a place in your life, and I might be a fool for asking for one." She said softly. "But I want to be part of your life somehow. Even if we only spoke once a year...that would be enough for me...I swear it would be. I don't want anything from you, not money, not anything...I just want to be there for you."

Heero smiled at her, and for her that was the ray of light into the shadows of her life. The darkness she'd lived in since her husband died and her son was given to Dr. J.

Once upon a time, a boy named Justin Raleigh became Heero Yuy, and Hanake Raleigh, mother and wife, became a widow and childless, and they were both left in the darkness....

And here was the light. The connection between mother and son was restored and the darkness was gone, chased away by this new thing, this new love and new life.

"I can't call you Mom." Heero told her honestly. "But I can call you my friend."

Hanake nodded, strands of her hair falling into her face as she did so.

Duo smiled and took a sip of his flatter-than-a-pancake Coke and watched them.

The loneliness was gone, the empty hollow inside, replaced by this new love.

This new light that ridded them of the darkness.

Forever.

@--->----

1- I'm finding myself less and less creeped out by this! ~_^